FLASH: Trump Administration Stops CVOW Construction Work
by Steve Haner
I was wondering why Dominion Energy had not issued its quarterly report on the progress of its Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) project, or why when down there earlier this month, watching with binoculars from a high hotel room, I could see no sign of any activity on the construction site. Now we know.
WASHINGTON – The Department of the Interior announced today that it is pausing—effective immediately—the leases for all large-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the United States due to national security risks identified by the Department of War in recently completed classified reports. This pause will give the Department, along with the Department of War and other relevant government agencies, time to work with leaseholders and state partners to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by these projects.
“The prime duty of the United States government is to protect the American people,” said Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum. “Today’s action addresses emerging national security risks, including the rapid evolution of the relevant adversary technologies, and the vulnerabilities created by large-scale offshore wind projects with proximity near our east coast population centers. The Trump administration will always prioritize the security of the American people.”
The following leases are paused:
Vineyard Wind 1 (OCS-A 0501)
Revolution Wind (OCS-A 0486)
CVOW – Commercial (OCS-A 0483)
Sunrise Wind (OCS-A 0487)
Empire Wind 1 (OCS-A 0512)
As for the national security risks inherent to large-scale offshore wind projects, unclassified reports from the U.S. Government have long found that the movement of massive turbine blades and the highly reflective towers create radar interference called “clutter.” The clutter caused by offshore wind projects obscures legitimate moving targets and generates false targets in the vicinity of the wind projects.
The Department of Energy in a 2024 report stated that a radar’s threshold for false alarm detection can be increased to reduce some clutter, but an increased detection threshold could cause the radar to “miss actual targets.”
Today’s action ensures that national security risks posed by offshore wind projects are appropriately addressed and that the United States government retains its ability to effectively defend the American people.
Even if all this blows over, and only a 90-day or so delay is the ultimate result, the cost of the project will rise. But a simple 90-day review is not the goal of the Trump Administration, of course. As has been explained more than once in this space, this $12 billion project is the only one being built where the risk of failure or cancellation rests on captive ratepayers.
How this will cost you money is discussed here. In the past 11 months the potential cost has only risen, and no careful analysis has been done to compare the cost of cancellation to the costs of completion (there is a tradeoff). The rationale for this pause and possible cancellation was also discussed previously on Bacon’s Rebellion. Dominion’s response provides few details other than to stress the obvious, the project was set to provide a substantial amount of electricity by the end of next year, a schedule now blown. One snippet:
Stopping CVOW for any length of time will threaten grid reliability for some of the nation’s most important war fighting, AI, and civilian assets. It will also lead to energy inflation and threaten thousands of jobs.
Many in the Energy MAGA universe are celebrating. Trump would not have done this but for the election outcome. More to come, obviously, but you deserved a bulletin on this one.
Republished with permission from Bacon’s Rebellion.
